World>Terrorism & Security
posted November 1, 2004, updated 10:30 a.m.
Iraqi president opposes assault on Fallujah
Yawar also accuses Iran of 'organizing attacks' in his country.
Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar has
declared his opposition to a joint attack by coalition and Iraqi forces on the insurgent-dominated city of Fallujah. Mr. Yawar's comments, made on Monday in an interview with a Kuwait newspaper, put him
directly at odds with Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, who has threatened the city with an all-out assault if local leaders did not force insurgents to surrender.
'I totally differ with those who believe there is a need for a military solution to the (Fallujah) issue. The management of the (US-led) coalition of the crisis is wrong,' Yawar said, describing it as like the man 'who shot his horse' to scare a fly, resulting in the fly escaping and the horse's death. The coalition should continue to have 'dialogue until the arrival of Iraqi troops... This will encourage neutral citizens to stop sympathizing with the rebels, most of whom are Saddam Hussein loyalists and forces which came from outside Iraq,' Yawar said.
Yawar said he did not expect his remarks to have any effect on current plans to attack Fallujah. Yawar, however,
praised the role being played by the US, according to the
Kuwaiti News Agency, saying "saying it did what nobody else could do for Iraq when it deposed the Saddam Hussein regime."
The
Guardian reported that Yawar also took aim at Iran for
interfering in Iraqi affairs.
'Iran is playing a negative role in Iraq. It is behind the assassination of more than 18 Iraqi intelligence officers. It is also playing a negative role in southern Iraq,' Yawar told Kuwait's Al Qabas newspaper.
In Fallujah itself, the
Detroit Free Press reports Tuesday that insurgents dressed as Iraqi policemen manned checkpoints Monday in the city
in preparation for the assault "everyone is certain will come soon." Insurgents and foreign fighters say the battle will not be an easy one for the coalition forces.
'They might enter the city, but that would be just one battle, not the end of the war,' Suhail al-Abdali [a Fallujah fighter] said. 'They will pay the price with the blood of American sons who came to occupy Iraq. They won't take Fallujah unless they fight street to street, house to house.' The
Boston Globe reports Tuesday that the insurgents are "
digging tunnels, laying minefields, and handing out cash to needy residents to win their support" before the battle.
The Christian Science Monitor reported on Monday that US marines are aware of the
tough task they face.
"You have to learn fast in this environment," says Lt. Colonel Ramos, from Dallas, Texas. "The enemy is willing to sacrifice lives. They are willing to martyr themselves for what they believe is an important cause.... The rules of war don't apply for them."
Newsweek reported on Sunday that the coming attack on Fallujah is being complicated by the
strength of the insurgents.
The insurgents have effectively created a reign of terror throughout the country, killing thousands, driving Iraqi elites and technocrats into exile and scaring foreigners out. 'Things are getting really bad,' a senior Iraqi official in [Mr.] Allawi's government told
Newsweek last week. 'The initiative is in [the insurgents'] hands right now. This approach of being lenient and accommodating has really backfired. They see this as weakness.' In the same story, other senior Iraqi officials tell
Newsweek that insurgents have inflitrated the new Iraqi Army "from top to bottom," including the "decision- making level."
Salon.com reports that this is a particularly troubling turn of affairs for the US military as it prepares to
assault Fallujah.
Marines were counting on the newly trained Iraqi forces to assist in the assault ... 'American military trainers have been frantically trying to assemble sufficient Iraqi troops' to fight alongside them and that they are 'praying that the soldiers perform better than last April, when two battalions of poorly trained Iraqi Army soldiers refused to fight.' Finally,
Newsweek reported that US Secretary of State Colin Powell has privately told friends that the US is losing the war in Iraq. Mr. Powell's office had no comment on the
Newsweek story.
Also...
•
Sharon needs his nemesis alive and kicking (
Arab News)
•
UN still waiting for Israeli apology (
Al Jazeera)
•
Tel Aviv market blast kills three (
Newsday)
•
Baghdad's deputy governor assassinated (
ITV, Britain)
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